FAQ's

Q: How can an adult or a youth (18 or below) become a referee?A: Anyone 14 and older can sign up for a Grade 8 certification class. Go to the North Carolina Soccer Referees Association website and click on the Referee Clinics link. Look for a New Grade 8 Certification Clinic. There is one offered in the Raleigh area every January and August. Beginning referees will be given lower age group games to build their experience base. Depending on the individual and the number of games worked, referees who demonstrate the skill, and desire to advance as a soccer official will gradually get older and/or higher level games.

Q: How do I sign up to referee CASL games?A: CASL’s Referee Assignor is Ralph Jordan. You can contact him via email. He will be happy to work with you. He assigns all of CASL’s Recreation, Challenge, YTS, Classic, and Tournament games. Please understand that all new officials must demonstrate their skills as an official prior to receiving assignment for high level games and just because you played as a youth or in college, does not automatically qualify you to officiate high level games.

Q: How do I sign on to The Arbiter (CASL’s referee assigning software)?A: Once you have contacted Ralph Jordan via email, you will be provided a login id and password. From there, you will log on to ArbiterSports. You will be asked to create a new password. Remember this password, Ralph can only reset your account, he has no way of “retrieving” forgotten passwords. After your initial sign on you should enter all your personal information, including your address, social security number, and phone numbers, especially a cell phone number where you can be reached on game days.

Q: How do I get assigned games?A: Once you are certified for the year in which you wish to officiate and have entered your vital information into the Arbiter and wish to be assigned games, you click the READY box on the bottom left of the main screen. This informs Ralph that you have updated all your information including any “blocks” and wish to be assigned games.

Q: How do I know if I have been assigned games?A: Once you have been assigned games, you will receive an email from Ralph saying that you have been assigned games and to log onto the Arbiter to view and either Accept or Decline those games by some timeframe. You can also just regularly check your Arbiter account. If you do not Accept or Decline those games by the specified time the assignments will expire. Allowing assignments to regularly expire may prevent you from getting future assignments. If you are unable to accept the assignments, it is better for Ralph for you to immediately “decline” them instead of letting them “expire”.

Q: Game Day?A: Either the night before or the morning of , you should print off a copy of your assignment. It will show the time, field, teams, the other referees with their phone numbers, along with the pay for each game. At the top of the print-out will be Ralph Jordan’s cell phone and the Weather line number.

Q: How do I make sure I get the level games I want to officiate?A: This is based on your present age, referee grade level, and years of experience. You will find Ralph out at the fields most of the weekend observing the officials. This observation also plays in levels of games you may receive.

Q: How do I make sure I am not assigned games on days when I am not
available?A: This is a very important question. You are responsible to insure you have blocked days when you are not available. You can even block partial days. Lets say you are a player or a coach too and have a morning game. You can block only the morning and even block fields (called sites in the Arbiter) that you cannot get to. Each official should block their unavailable dates at least two weeks in advance of the weekend as assignments will be sent out up to two weeks ahead.

Q: What happens to me if I have to decline my assignment(s)?A: The Arbiter automatically blocks the entire day once you decline a game. You cannot remove this block, you must contact Ralph to remove the block if you later become available.

Q: How do I decline a game once I have accepted it?A: You cannot decline an accepted game via the Arbiter. You must contact Ralph. If it is within 24 hours of the game, contact Ralph on his game day cell phone (919) 761-4135. If the game is more than one day away, you can email Ralph and mark it urgent! You should provide a reason. Ralph is understanding about emergencies, but a pattern of emergencies by the same official is not normal. Also, once Ralph changes you in the Arbiter to declining a previously accepted game, the Arbiter automatically blocks you from all games on that day.

Q: How do I make sure I get paid for games I have officiated?A: All officials are independent contractors. As a result, the IRS requires a W-9 form to be on file with CASL for all independent contractors. You can obtain a W-9 form from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website, select “Forms and Publications” and put in W-9). Then complete the name, address and Social Security number, sign and date it and fax it to CASL at (919) 834-4369 or mail it to CASL at 3300 Woman’s Club Drive, Suite 1, Raleigh NC 27612. Pay cannot be released without this form on file. The Form is also available in the Forms section on the Arbiter.

Q: How do I record scores properly and insure the crew gets paid?A: This too is a very important question. All center officials are required to access the Arbiter within 48 hours after the match to record their match. The instructions are provided in the Arbiter announcement section.

Q: What is CASL’s normal pay cycle?A: Normally, CASL will pay every week for Regular season games (Rec, Challenge, and YTS) using RefPay, but factors can cause that to be changed. We will keep referees informed via email as to specific dates each season. Remember that individual referees and each center referee has direct control to insure the match crew gets paid. See the answers above! Regular season Classic fees are paid at the field before each game.

Q: Can I check my pending payments for games?A: If you are an AR to a match, you can look at your game schedule and view past games. If the referee has entered the match score, shown you as “On time” and the match shows a Submitted by the center referee, you will get paid the next time CASL pays. If you are the center referee, you will know you have a pending payment as you hopefully will have already followed the answer to the questions above.

Q: Can I see payments already sent to me?A: Yes, log on to the ArbiterSports website as usual and in the left column under Payroll click the link call “Paysheets”. To get the best detail on your pay sheet, click the “Date” option and click the “Add & Deduct Detail”. These options will give you match number, date, time, Division, your assignment, home team of paid games, fee and total fee.

Q: How do I submit yellow and red cards or injury reports?A. The center referee has the responsibility to enter this information into the Arbiter at the time he or she is posting the match result and showing the crew as “on-time”, “late” or “no show”. Yellow and red cards issued during the match must contain player name, player number, team name, violation, and a brief description of the incident. An injury report must contain the player’s name, team name and a brief description of the events just before and after the injury.